Toughman V (タフマンV)

About
Toughman V(タフマンV) is an energy drink sold by Yakult.

Ingredients
The drink contains 3mg of vitamin B1, 4mg of vitamin B2, 3mg of vitamin B6, and 5mg of niacin. The drink also contains ginseng extract and royal jelly. Usually energy drinks of this sort contain caffeine but this drink is unique in that it does not contain any.

Taste
The taste is syrupy and has a slight medicine-like taste.

Lipovitan D Pro

About
Lipovitan D Pro is an energy drink(eiyouzai) sold by the Taisho Pharmaceutical Company. It is part of the lineup of Taisho Pharmaceutical's famous "Lipovitan D" series of energy drinks.

Ingredients
The drink contains 1000mg of taurine, 0.2mL of　Morinda officinalis extract, 50mg of inositol, 20mg of nicotinamide, 5mg of vitamin B1, 5mg of vitamin B2, 5mg of vitamin B6, and 50mg of caffeine.

Difference with the regular "Lipovitan D"
Unlike the regular Lipovitan D which is a quasi drug energy drink(指定医薬部外品), Lipovitan D Pro is a Type 2 Pharmaceutical(第2類医薬品) energy drink. This is despite the fact that the Pro version does not share many differences with the regular Lipovitan D. In fact, when it comes to the active ingredients, there is only one difference. Lipovitan D Pro contains the Morinda officinalis extract while the regular Lipovitan D does not. Morinda officinalis is an ingredient used in Kampo(traditional Chinese medicine in Japan).

Taste
The taste of Lipovitan D Pro is just like the regular Lipovitan D; it is sweet like syrup but not fruity.

Alinamin 7 Zero - Taste & Review

About
Alinamin 7 Zero is an energy drink sold by the Takeda Pharmaceutical Company. The drink contains Fursultiamine, a derivative of thiamine(Vitamin B1) which was developed in Japan by Takeda in the 1960s and is incorporated into most, if not all of its Alinamin lineup of products. According to Takeda, Fursultiamine is more easily absorbed into the body compared to thiamine(vitamin B1).
The drink contains 2.5mg of Fursultiamine, 2.54mg of riboflavin(vitamin B2), 10mg of vitamin B6, 25mg of nicotinamide, 125mg of l-aspartic acid, 1000mg of taurine, and 50mg of caffeine.

Taste
It has a lemon-like citrus taste to it and is easy to drink. Since this drink contains "zero" sugars, the drink is sweetened with sweeteners which gives it a kind of artificial sweetness.

Effect
The drink has quite a kick to it. For the price, the effects are satisfactory.

Reference
http://alinamin.jp/alinamin/fursultiamine/

Lipovitan D リポビタンD

Lipovitan D is a Japanese energy drink manufactured and sold by Taisho Pharmaceutical Company in Japan. It is the most popular 100ml energy drink in Japan and is also sold in around 20 countries overseas, although their names, tastes, and ingredients may differ. Drinks sold in tropical regions are usually sweeter, while drinks sold in North America and Europe tend to be less sweet.
The drink comes in a brown 100ml glass bottle and has a bright yellow color.
Although not known much to the public, Lipovitan Ds sold in vending machines are included in larger glass bottles than the ones sold in stores. This is to prevent the bottle from breaking when they fall inside the vending machines. There is no difference in content or content weight whatoever.
On the bottle, it is printed that a person should only drink Lipovitan D once a day, and when he/she is 15 years or older.

History
Lipovitan D was first introduced in 1962 as a pioneer product, replacing the ampules that were used at the time with "drinks". It introduced a new market, the "energy drink(ドリンク剤)" in Japan, and paved the way for future energy drinks in Japan. The name "Lipovitan" comes from the medical term, "Lipoclasis", a synonym of lipolysis, and the word, "vitamin". The "D" in "Lipovitan D" is an initial that comes from the words, "Delicious" and "Dynamic".
With the success of Lipovitan D, Taisho Pharmaceutical has introduced other "Lipovitan" products including the Lipovitan D Super, first sold in 1965, and Lipovitan Gold, first sold in 1979.

Ingredients
Lipovitan D contains 1000mg of taurine, 50mg of inositol, 20mg of nicotinamide, 5mg of vitamin B1, 5mg of vitamin B2, 5mg of vitamin B6, and 50 mg of caffeine.

Taste
It has a distinctive taste, which I cannot describe, and is sufficiently sweet. This is not really a drink you should taste; it is kind of like a medicine that should be gulped down.

Pepsi Refresh Shot

Pepsi Refresh Shot is a 200ml Pepsi drink with double the amount of caffeine as a normal Pepsi.
However, the amount of caffeine inside is just 38mg/200ml, which is not so much. To me, the taste was just like normal Pepsi; however, Pepsi claims that it is sweeter than the original one.
I am particularly sensitive to caffeine, so when I drank this Pepsi in the morning, it made me quite alert for the rest of the day.
I guess you can call this an energy drink.

Tiovita Drink Aivitas(チオビタ ドリンク アイビタス)

Tiovita Drink Aivitas is an energy drink sold by Taiho Pharmaceutical Company in Japan, and is a product in the famous "Tiovita" lineup.

Taste
The drink is decently sweet and has a blueberry-like taste. The unpleasant aftertaste resulting from the vitamins is not so strong, despite the drink containing a relatively large amount of Vitamin B.

Effect
I drank this energy drink after waking up from a short sleep. The effect was quite astounding; I was able to work very hard during the day without getting sleepy at all.

Ingredients
The drink contains 1000mg of taurine, 50mg of inositol, 20mg of nicotinamide, 10mg of vitamin B1, 15mg of vitamin B2, 50mg of vitamin B6, 120mg of carnitine chloride, and 50mg of caffeine.

As with most energy drinks this size, the drink is a quasi-drug and consumption is limited to 1 drink per day for people aged 15 or older.

New Guromont 新グロモント

New Guromont or Shin Guromont is an energy drink sold by Japanese pharmaceutical company, Lion.

Taste
The taste of this energy drink is decent, without an unpleasant aftertaste like most Japanese energy drinks.

Ingredients
In the drink are, 1000mg of glucuronolacton, 10mg of Vitamin B1, 5mg of Vitamin B2, 5mg of Vitamin B6, 20mg of nicotinamide, 100mg of inositol, 100mg of carnitine, 30mg of caffeine, and 9mg of longan extract.
All of these ingredients except for the longan extract and glucuronolacton are common ingredients found in Japanese energy drinks.

GREEN DAKARA - Taste & Review

Green Dakara is a mineral-replenishing drink made by Suntory. It's not an energy drink but more like something in between a sports drink and flavored water. Perhaps "A less fruity tasting version of Vitamin Water" would be a good way to describe it.

What's inside Green Dakara?

This interesting drink contains the juices and extracts of 14 different ingredients.
6  of them are citrus fruits, grapefruit juice, lemon juice&peel, amanatsu, pomelo, shiikwaasaa (peel), and yuzu (peel). The other 8 are aloe vera, salt, seaweed (extract), tomato (extract), sugarcane, black sesame seed, sugar, and honey.

The ingredients that are used most are the grapefruit and lemon juices. On the label it says that there are less than 10% of those grapefruit and lemon juices contained so it's basically almost all water.

How does it taste?

The drink is very soft and not too sweet, much like most flavored waters(although Green Dakara is not marketed as flavored water). You can clearly taste the grapefruit but you can't really make out the other ingredients. So it's basically a grapefruit flavored water with an added softness due to the added minerals from the other ingredients.
Overall, it's a nice refreshing drink, and can be a healthy and efficient way of quenching your thirst on a hot summer day.

Lipovitan D 11(リポビタンD11)

Today's energy drink is the Lipovitan D 11 by the Taisho Pharmaceutical Company. This is one of the most expensive energy drinks in the Lipovtan lineup that you can buy in a convenience  store in Japan(You can buy more expensive Lipovitans at drug stores). On the label, it says, "現代のつらい疲れに" which translates to, "For fatigue in today's society". The 11 stands for the 11 main ingredients in this thing. They are, 1500mg of taurine, 200mg of royal jelly, 90mg of ginseng extract, 0.6ml of Eleutherococcus senticosus extract(took me a long time to find this in English...lol), 0.2ml of wolfberry extract, 100mg of arginine, 100mg of inositol, 30mg of niacin, 10mg of vitamin B1, 5mg each of vitamin B2 and B6, 50mg of vitamin E, and 50mg of caffeine.

Taste:
The taste is not so good. It is sour and has a weird sweetness to it.

Price:
About 380yen

Effect:
This kept me awake for the whole day. I did not have to take a nap this day! This drink will naturally make you energetic and get you moving.....dangerous, yeah. However, this is normal in JAPAN.

Yunker Royal 200 (ユンケルローヤル200)

This is one of the more than 30 brands of the Yunker series. The Yunker series are sold by the Sato Pharmaceutical Company. First of all, the bottle is quite normal except for the fact that there is "Sato" engraved on it which is quite an eye-catcher.......for me. Another thing is that there's only 19kcal in 100ml of this compared to 74, which is what you'll find in a normal "Lipovitan D", which is also 100ml. The "Royal 200" stands for the 200mg of royal jelly that are in this. However, 200mg isn't that special; you'll find 300mg of royal jelly in a "Lipovitan D8" which is, not surprisingly, more expensive than this product. The ingredients in this Yunker are 200mg of royal jelly, 1000mg of taurine, 10mg of vitamin B1, 5mg of vitamin B2, 10mg of vitamin B6, 20mg of niacin, and 50mg of caffeine.

Taste:
This tastes and smells like nice, refreshing apple juice. It's quite watery compared to other energy drinks.

Price:
about 200yen

Effect:
The effects of this are "normal". On this blog, "normal" means that it has the same effects as a normal Lipovitan D, Tiovita, S-CUP, etc.

Alinamin V (アリナミンV)

 

Today's drink is the Alinamin V from the Takeda Pharmaceutical Company. The first thing you might notice with this is that it's very small. There's only 50ml of this compared to 100ml which is what you would find in a normal energy drink in Japan. However, the amount of vitamins and god-knows-what does not differ much which means that it's that concentrated.
The drink contains Fursultiamine, a derivative of thiamine(Vitamin B1) which was developed in Japan by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company in the 1960s and is incorporated into most, if not all Alinamin products.

Taste:
The taste is bitter and sweet at the same time. This is one of the most bitter energy drinks I've done a review on. However, it's not disgustingly bitter, it's just slightly bitter which is actually quite nice. However, you might need a little time to get used to it. As for me, I still haven't gotten used to this taste.....definitely not my favorite.

Price:
about 150yen

Effect:
The effects of this are normal. When I say the effects of an energy drink is "normal", I mean that it is in the same range as the normal Tivovita, S-CUP, Lipovitan-D, etc which are all about 150yen.

Lipovitan D 8 (リポビタンD8)

 

This is "Lipovitan D 8" by the Taisho Pharmaceutical Company. On the label it says, "つらい疲れに" which translates to "for painful fatigue". PAINFUL!?!?.....wow I thought, this really must pack a punch. There's 1500mg of taurine, 300mg of royal jelly, 10mg of vitamin B1(thiamine), 5mg of vitamin B2(riboflavin), 5mg of vitamin B6, 50mg of vitamin E, 100mg of inositol, 30mg of niacin(B3), 90mg of ginseng extract(used in traditional Chinese medicine), and 50mg of caffeine. What really stands out with this Lipovitan D8 is that it has 300mg of royal jelly in it. That's 1.5 times what D11 and "Yunker Royal 200" have.

Taste:

It has kind of a floral essence to it. It's not like any of the energy drinks I've tasted before....very interesting. It might taste like medicine to people who think this floral taste has a medicinal taste to it.

Price:

about 260yen

Effects:

The effects are similar to that of "Lipovitan D Super". It's exactly what you'd expect from an energy drink in this price range. It's like you took a Lipovitan D and multiplied the effects by 2 as mentioned in the "Lipovitan D Super" article. However, unlike the super, the effects didn't last very long which was quite dissapointing,

Dekavita C (デカビタC)

Ok here's our first carbonated drink on this blog. It is the "Dekavita C" from a company called Suntory. This drink is not medicinal so you are able to drink this more than once a day and even if you're less than 15 years old. There's 0.67mg of vitamin B1, 0.76mg of vitamin B2, 1mg of vitamin B6, 1.4micrograms of vitamin B12, 95mg of vitamin C, 8.6mg of niacin(B3), 0.9-3.7mg of pantothenic acid, and 1.2mg of vitamin P(flavonoid) in 100ml of this.
"Deka" means "big" in Japanese and "vita" stands for "vitamins", and the "C" stands for vitamin C, hence the name "Dekavita C". There's 210ml of liquid in this thing so it is quite large if you compare it to medicinal energy drinks which are usually 100ml.

Taste:
The carbonation gives the drink a nice kick to it, unlike most energy drinks in Japan. The taste is not fruity and tastes similar to Oronamin C. There's nothing too special about it except for the slight honey-like taste, most likely due to the royal jelly.

Price:
about 120yen

Effects:
Well, you can't compare this to medicinal energy drinks, just a small boost in energy.

Alinamin 7 (アリナミン7)

This is the Alinamin 7 sold by the Takeda Pharmaceutical Company. The 7 stands for the 7 main ingredeints that are in this. They are.....2.5mg of vitamin B1(thiamine), 2mg of vitamin B2(riboflavin), 10mg of vitmain B6, 25mg of Niacin(B3), 125mg of sodium L-aspartate, 1000mg of taurine, and 50mg of caffeine. 


Taste: The taste is fruity sweet and slightly bitter; that of medicine. Not my favorite taste among the energy drinks but better than Tiovita. 


Price: 
about 150 yen.


Effect: I didn't feel the effects of this very much.

Lipovitan D Super (リポビタンDスーパー)

This is the Lipovitan D Super energy drink from the Taisho Pharmaceutical Company.
First of all, this is different from the original, blue Lipovitan D energy drink and all the other baseline energy drinks from the fact that it has 2000mg of taurine in it. If you want to know what taurine is, check out my S-CUP post. Other than that this has 5mg each of vitamins B2(riboflavin) and B6, 10mg of vitamin B1(Thiamine), 20mg of Niacin(B3), 130mg of Ginseng extract(A type of traditional Chinese medicine), 10mg of vitamin E, 300mg of arginine hydrochloride, 50mg of caffeine, and 100mg of inositol. 


Taste:
The taste is very sweet and has a peach-like flavor to it. 

Price:
about 260yen(expensive)


Effect：
The effect is phenomenal compared to all the other baseline products.  I drank it and immediately, I began to feel the effects of the drink. It's like you took a Lipovitan D and multiplied the effects x2. On the other hand, I would have been disappointed if I didn't get this much of an energy boost with this 260-yen product.

Tiovita (チオビタ)

Today's energy drink is Tiovita! It is the flagship energy drink of the Taiho Pharmaceutical Company. The ingredients in this power pack is similar to all the flagship(baseline) energy drinks in Japan; 1000mg taurine, 5mg each of Vitamins B1, B2, and B6, etc.

Taste:

The taste of this is very sweet and has a medicine flavor to it.  Definitely not my favorite. The sweetness does not have any fruitiness to it, it's just plain sweet....period. And the medicine taste doesn't help much either.

Price:

about 150 yen

Effect:

So I drank one of these and I became recharged quite quickly. Nothing special. Just as what you'd expect from a 150 yen energy drink in Japan......which means Tiovita=S-Cup=Lipovitan D=Arinamin=etc....